Top 25 Richest Families in the UK

May 7, 20194K views0 comments

By Audrey Kyanova

England has a long and prestigious history, making it one of the world’s oldest countries. As such it only follows that the UK has a ton of rich families, whether they are rich from royal lineage, business industry, acting, singing, or some other source of income—there are some families in the UK making serious cash.

It may surprise you to learn that some of England’s richest names are already well known to you. Others head massive businesses that you didn’t even know existed.

It’s easy to forget that these everyday business names have families behind them that are making millions of pounds every day. Here are the richest families in the UK and the information about how they made all their money!

The Dyson Family

The Dyson family got its wealth from their famous, self-named vacuums. James Dyson, the patriarch of the family, invented the very first “Dyson vacuum,” which used specific, new technology in order to do a better job cleaning floors than any other vacuum on the market. Dyson founded his own company to continue his inventions.

At one point, Dyson was investing seven million pounds per week into new inventions, though he has since said that he was actually taking it slow. He also invented a new type of washing machine, which used rotating technology, as well as an innovative hand-dryer.

Dyson sources and makes its products in the UK, expanding their campuses and adding thousands of jobs to the British economy. They recently invested more than one billion pounds into new technology and advancements.

The Reuben Family

David and Simon Reuben (the Reuben Brothers) are two brothers that were born in India, but they moved to Islington. They attended government schools, and their parents ran multiple businesses, both of which were headquartered in Baghdad and Bombay.

David and Simon started from humble beginnings, in terms of their own career. David worked first in scrap metals, while Simon worked in the carpet industry. Simon bought out a carpet company, and used it to build up his bank account so that he could invest in property. His investments paid off handsomely.

The two brothers went into business together, working in metals trading and the real estate industry. The two are notoriously camera-shy. The majority of their fortune is in the form of cash and bonds.

The Ratcliffe Family

The Ratcliffe family is one of several that have managed to make a sizable profit from the chemicals giant Ineos. James Ratcliffe was born in Lancashire and founded Ineos in 1998. Not a ton is known about this reclusive billionaire, as he keeps a very low profile.

Ineos is a chemical company. Prior to Ineos, he worked with ESSO, an oil company. He also worked in accounting after taking courses at London Business School and getting his MBA from there. He joined Advent International in 1989.

Ratcliffe is also a sports fan, and he owns FC Lausanne-Sport. Ratcliffe has often spoken highly of London, particularly in terms of the gas and oil options for trading. He recently spoke about his lack of concern about Brexit.

The Livingstone Family

The Livingstone family has made its money through property development. Ian Livingstone and his brother, Richard, own the firm London and Regional Properties, which operates across global property development sectors. Livingstone received his education from St. Paul’s School of London, and he also attended City University.

Livingstone was first the chairman of Optika, a retail chain of optician stores. Optika owned 170 retail stores. Richard and Ian both held stake in Optika. The two then made the move to real estate development, and a lot of their early efforts were financed by Jacob Rothschild.

Ian also owns Brightark, which is another investment company. He partnered with Claudio Del Vecchio for the venture. Ian and Richard are still heavily involved in London and Regional Properties too, however.

The Lewis Family

Joe Lewis was born in London, and he is known for living on a superyacht in the Bahamas. But he grew up in humble beginnings, originally living in a public house in London. He dropped out of school at fifteen to help his father with a small, struggling catering business. The business was called Tavistock Banqueting.

Joe took the reins of the business and began to expand it. He turned Tavistock into a one-stop-shop for luxury goods for US tourist. He then was able to purchase the Hanover Grand, which is a club at the West End, though he sold that in 1979.

He sold his family’s business, and he redirected his focus into trading. He traded currencies throughout the 80s and 90s. Lewis still trades forex today.

The Schroder Family

Leonie Schroder recently took the reigns for her deceased father of her family’s public company, Schroders. Schroders was founded centuries ago in 1804. It is headquartered in London, and it has an operating income of more than seven hundred million pounds. It employs five thousand people.

Schroders is a bank. It is named after the family, who grew up in Hamburg as a Hanseatic family. The family still owns 48% of the company, though it owns it through a multitude of financial vehicles (trustee companies, charities, etc.).

Schroders has history all over the world. They were even involved in the Civil War in America, where they issued bonds to the southern Confederacy that attempted to separate from the northern states. The bank was always based in London.

The Barclay Family

David and Frederick Barclay are two British businessmen who grew up in London but now reside in the Channel Islands in Monaco. They have been in the business industry since the 1960s. They are often referred to as “the Barclay Brothers,” as they are identical twins.

They have their interests in media, property, and retail. It runs through the family, with David’s son, Aidan, managing many of their holdings in the UK. They own the Press Holdings Company, which owns media subsidiaries such as Apollo and The Spectator. They also are the owners of Telegraph Group Ltd.

The two brothers were born into a family with eight other children. Having said that, the two twins were born just ten minutes apart from one another.

The Platt Family

The Platt family has its finances sourced from banking and financing. Its most prominent member, Michael Platt, was born in Preston, England and now resides in Jersey. Michael attended the London School of Economics, and he is the founder of BlueCrest Capital Management.

Michael first invested in a shipping line when he was fourteen, when he invested five hundred pounds into Common Brothers. He studied civil engineering as well as economics. He knew he had a knack for investing when his grandmother gave him shares and told him to invest.

He initially worked at JP Morgan, where he was in charge of their swap and stock options. He then founded his own investment company after leaving JP Morgan. He was able to avoid the financial crisis through his foresight.

The Green Family

The Green family has its roots in investing, and Phillip and Christina Green are the owners of Arcadia, an investment group that owns retail outlets such as Topshop, Outfit, Dorothy Perkins, and more. Phillip Green was born in London. He and Tina married in 1990.

Phillip was born to a property developer, attended the boarding school Carmel College. He inherited his father’s business when he was twelve after his father died of a heart attack. Green left school at fifteen and worked in the shoe importing industry.

He travelled throughout Europe, the East, and the States with the importer. He set up his first business, which was important denim from the East to sell in London. He bought up more designer clothes and sold them, building his brand.

The Hinduja Family

The Hinduja family resides in London. The family has a long line in investing, and they own the conglomerate Hinduja Group. The founder, Parmanand Hinduja, was born in British India in what is now known as Pakistan. The Founders eldest son is part of the “Fab Four” (Hinduja Brothers) which are the largest Indian businesses operating today.

He received his education from Davar’s College of Commerce, located in Mumbai. SP, together with his brother, GP, are the UK’s richest people. His company has investments in textiles, trading, food, iron, telecom, customer support, and more. Hinduja’s home is down the street from Buckingham Palace for crying out loud!

The Hinduja home is worth $500 million, and it is number three on the list of the world’s most expensive private homes. Hinduja has two daughters with his wife of several decades, Madhu Srichand Hinduja.

The Calder Family

The Calder family made its money from music. Specifically, it made its money from the record label established by its patriarch, Clive Calder. Clive started The Zomba Group with Ralph Simon. He was born in South Africa, but he obtained British citizenship, revoking his South African citizenship.

Calder started his record company back in 1971, and its headquarters was in South Africa. But then, he moved to London with the company, and it became an artist and manager company. Zomba then founded Jive, which is a hip hop and rap label.

Jive then had a subsidiary, Silvertone, which was extremely successful. Jive included famous names such as the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and ‘Nsync. Eventually, in 2011, the Jive Brand was discontinued in favour of Epic Records.

The Hargreaves Family

The Hargreaves family has its wealth in finance, investments, and banking. The family is led by Peter Hargreaves, who was born in Lancashire and attended Clitheroe Royal Grammar School. He still resides in West Country, and is well-known for leading the Leave Campaign in support of Brexit.

Hargreaves was a major donor to the Brexit campaign, giving away more than three million pounds to the campaign. Business-wise, he is a major shareholder of Hargreaves Lansdown, which is a financial services business that is the largest of its kind in the UK. He was formerly a director and employee of the company.

He also founded Blue Whale Capital, a small investment firm, in 2017. He is partner there and active in the company.

The Ecclestone Family

The Ecclestone family is among one of Britain’s most eccentric rich families. Bernie Ecclestone is the patriarch of the family, and despite his rather miniscule height, he is worth billions and considered a formidable British business tycoon. Most notably, he was the CEO of Formula One Group.

Formula One Group controls the racing empire Formula One, a billion-dollar industry unto itself.. Ecclestone also owns Delta Topco, which used to be the Formula One Group parent. Ecclestone retired recently, being replaced as the CEO by Chase Carey. Ecclestone still is the chairman emeritus, and he advises the board.

Ecclestone was involved in racing at the beginning of the sport’s inception. He sold TV rights to the sport after he went from team owner to member of the Constructors Association. He also dabbled in being a driver back in 1958.

The Currie Family

The Currie family is another family on this list that owes its wealth to the chemical giant Ineos. Andrew Currie is the patriarch of the Currie family, and he is of British nationality, yet he currently resides in Rolle, Switzerland. He attended Cambridge University.

At Cambridge, he studied natural sciences. Prior to working at Ineos, Currie was working at Ineos’ rival, BP Chemicals. He worked there for fifteen years until Ineos made him a better offer. He actually joined INSPEC, which is the parent company of Ineos, and he worked in the marketing and sales departments.

It wasn’t until 1999 that Currie became a director at Ineos. His position is as the director of chemicals. He holds a 20% stake in massive chemical giant.

The Reece Family

The Reece family is the third member of the Ineos family trio. This chemical manufacturing giant continues to dominate the industry, raking in billions in revenue each year. John Reece was born in England, though he resides in Switzerland. He is the Chief Financial Officer at Ineos.

He attended the University of Cambridge. After he attended Cambridge, he was an accountant and partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a huge global accounting firm. He jumped to Ineos in 2000, when he left his former job to become not just the CFO of Ineos, but also the minority shareholder. A position that has netted him billions.

Ineos was barely in its second year when Reece joined as CFO. Now, the company is worth sixty billion pounds, and has recently expanded into the shale industry.

The Bamford Family

Anthony Bamford was born in Staffordshire. He resides in the UK, and he received his education from Ampleforth College. The Bamford family has made its money through manufacturing, a subject on which Bamford has been outspoken, often arguing for the English government to increase subsidies to companies.

Bamford owns several luxurious mansions and real estate properties across England (and several other companies).. He also is a vintage car collector, and owns a luxury yacht. Not a bad way to spend one’s fortune.

His company was founded by his father Joseph Cyril (hence the initials JCB). He succeeded his father when he was thirty years old in 1975. He received a knighthood in 1990, when he was forty-five.

The Graff Family

The Graff family has made its fortune through diamonds thanks to their family empire Graff Diamonds. Laurence Graff founded the company. Laurence himself was born in London, though he now resides in Switzerland in the city of Gstaad. He has been in the business industry since 1953.

Graff dropped out of school at fifteen. His first experience in the jewellery industry was with Schindler, a jeweller who repaired rings and made small jewellery for its customers. Graff opened his own small shop in Hatton Garden, a London hot-spot for jewellery-trading since the middle ages.

Graff made headlines in 2008 for his purchase of the Wittelsbach Diamond, which he repolished and recut to remove chipping and improve clarity, a move which sparked a lot of controversy within the industry.

The Branson Family

The surname Branson has long been associated with extreme wealth, thanks to its charismatic leader, Richard Branson. Branson founded Virgin Group Ltd. He was born in London, England. He has always been an entrepreneur, starting his business ventures at just sixteen years old.

His first business was the paper Student. After that, he set up a record business that operated via mail. He also had a chain of record stores called Virgin Records, which expanded to become megastores. The Virgin label started to expand, and he was able to diversify into an airline.

Virgin Atlantic Airline was soon joined by Virgin Galactic, which is a spaceflight corporation. Virgin Galactic has been in existence since 2004. It has its base at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

The Ashley Family

The Ashley family got its wealth from retail—namely, from the sports retail world. Michael Ashley was born in Staffordshire, and is a huge player in the retail industry, buying House of Fraser after it went to administration in 2018. Before that, he opened his first sports shop in London after receiving a small loan.

The shop focused on sports and skiing. It was funded privately, and the chain began to grow rapidly. Ashley renamed the chain Sports Soccer, and it was transformed into an LLC that he could control. He soon began to buy up other brands after gaining capital from an investor.

Ashley is known as a private person, and he has adeptly avoided the press, refusing to comment on any articles except for one accusing his business of sweatshopping its labour. Ashley fiercely denied the charges at the time.

The Miller Family

Robert Miller was born overseas in the States but later received British citizenship. He is the father of the Crown Princess of Greece. His other two daughters are Alexandra von Furstenberg and Pia Getty. His father was a bookkeeper and his mother was a governess; in fact, Miller can trace his ancestry all the way back to Henry I of England.

His family were members of the British Colonists when they came to America. Miller got his degree from Cornell University in hotel administration. He was a fraternity member while at the college. He is credited with advancing the idea of “duty free” shops.

He opened DFS, starting in Hong Kong. DFS provided goods and concessions to travellers, lowering the price so that they didn’t have to pay any import taxes.

The Vaswani Family

The Vaswani family is of Indian descent, though the family itself has both British and Nigerian citizenship. Sunil Vaswani, the patriarch, was born in Jaipur India in 1963. He was raised in Nigeria, and he also spent part of his childhood in London. He founded The Stallion Group.

The Stallion Group is based in Dubai. It is a conglomerate with holdings in many different industries, such as packaging, tech, port operations, cards, food, steel, and cars. It also has holdings in plastics. It operates across the world in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Sunil is married to Rita Vaswani, and the two have three children. He currently resides in the UAE after he and the British government were arguing over taxes (he was cleared of wrongdoing).

The Lewis Family

Bernard Lewis is a British billionaire whose family has a major stake in the fashion industry. He was educated at the Northern Polytechnic Institute, and before that, attended Jewish Free School. He and his wife have five children. Lewis was born in 1926 and grew up in the years leading to World War II.

He first worked for his parents at their greengrocery, where he learned basic retail concepts like pricing stock, reducing waste, and talking to customers. After serving in the Royal Air Force during the Second World Was, he opened a fruit and vegetable store that he later converted to a fashion store in the 1940s.

He opened a garment store in Hackney, and grew his business from there. In the 1970s, he opened his flagship brand, Chelsea Girl, and he later founded Lewis Separates from its success.

The Moshiri Family

The Moshiri family has its wealth in investments and banking. Farhad Moshiri was born in Iran, though holds British citizenship and now resides in Monaco. His parents fled Iran with him before the 1979 revolution. Farhad’s mother was a publicist, while his father was a doctor who later became a military judge.

Moshiri first worked for Ernst & Young, an investment firm. He also held jobs with Deloitte and PKF. Moshiri initially wanted to found his own business, but then decides he wanted to increase his shares instead. He bargained with Red and White Holdings until he owned a quarter of Everton F.C.

The Premier League ratified his 49.7% holding of Everton, greenlighting his football club career. He is currently married to Nazenin Ansari, a journalist who runs a weekly Persian newspaper distributed in the UK.

The Caudwell Family

The Caudwell family has its wealth in the mobile phone industry. John Caudwell was born in Birmingham, and he and his family currently reside in Stoke-on-Trent. He has been in business since 1973. He has five children with his ex-wife. He started his A-levels in school, but he dropped out to become an apprentice at the Michelin company.

Caudwell worked as an engineering foreman. He received an HNC in mechanical engineering, and he sold clothes to motorcyclists at the mall. His small corner clothing store was successful. But he really hit the jackpot when he founded Phones4u.

He opened it in the 1980s, and it did well, defeating competition until he sold the business for more than one billion pounds to a private equity firm.

The Hohn Family

The Hohn family is another family with ties in investing. Chris Hohn was born in Surrey, and he attended the University of Southampton and Harvard University. He is a billionaire businessman and a noted philanthropist. His father was a car mechanic, while his mother was a secretary. He received his MBA from Harvard and graduated as a Baker Scholar.

The Baker Scholar award meant that he was in the top five per cent of his graduating class for academics. His first job was at Apax, a private equity company. He then worked for the hedge fund firm Perry Capital, where he earned £75 million.

He decided to start The Children’s Investment Fund, which was a regular donor to charity. He donated 0.5% of assets from the TCIF each year.

The Goodman Family

Laurence Goodman is an Irish entrepreneur who made his fortune in the beef processing industry. Nicknamed “Larry,” he founded the company ABP Food Group. He comes from a long line of family involved in the same work. His family, for six generations, raised livestock and exported them.

ABP Food Group, founded in 1954, is one of the largest agricultural businesses in Europe. ABP has fifty-one processing plants throughout Ireland, Spain, Denmark, France, Austria, the UK, and Poland. It employs more than eleven thousand people.

The Goodmans also have business investments in different sectors, such as real estate, healthcare, and other industries. ABP was once named Anglo-Irish Meats, but Goodman changed the name after he began exporting to other countries, especially the Middle East, where he travelled himself.

The Desmond Family

Dermot Desmond (of the elite Desmond family) is Ireland’s ninth-wealthiest person. He is an entrepreneur who was born in County Cork, but grew up in Dublin. He attended Scoil Mhuire, and he left school to work in the Dublin branch of Citibank, which was his first financier job. His career began there.

Fifteen years after starting at Citibank, he founded his brokerage firm, called National City Brokers. He sold the company to Ulster, where fellow billionaire Sean Quinn now owns one-quarter of it. Desmond also bought up other businesses, including the London City Airport.

Even though the airport was a very risky buy, Desmond was able to turn it around. It is now one of the most profitable airports in the entire UK. He recently sold it for 750 million euro.

The O’Brien Family

Denis O’Brien is a tech industry magnate, and he was listed in Forbes’ Top 200 Billionaires in the World list. He is the richest person in Ireland (native-born). He was born in Cork, but he grew up in Ballsbridge. His father was a salesman for a vet company, and it was from his father that he learned his business acumen.

He attended school in Rathgar, where he was known for having a bad behaviour record and impressive rugby skills. It was the latter that allowed him to remain in school, despite his track record of misbehaviour.

In 1989, Denis O’Brien founded Communicorp. It owns forty-two radio stations, and it is the parent company of Digicel, O’Brien’s other tech venture. He also founded a profitable aircraft leasing business.

The Ballyedmond Family

Lady Ballyedmond is Northern Ireland’s richest person, and she is also the chairwoman of the chemical company Norbrook Laboratories. She is the widow of the actual founder of the company, Baron Ballyedmond. Lady Ballyedmond, named Mary Young at birth, attended school to become a solicitor.

Before that, she was a student at Newry High School. She achieved the rank of Head Girl. She began a solicitor, as well as an adjunct law professor at Queens University Belfast. She married Baron Ballyedmond in 1972.

Tragically, Baron Ballyedmond died in a plane crash in 2014. After more than forty years of marriage, Lady Ballyedmond became a widow. She inherited his fortune, and she runs his company to this day, keeping his memory alive. The company is among the most successful in the UK.

The Dunne Family

Sean Dunne is also known as the Baron of Ballsbridge. He is a highly-regarded real estate developer. He has run into some financial difficulties, but he has managed to turn them around and become successful. He resides both in Dublin and the US. His birthplace is County Carlow.

He is known for never interviewing, giving his only interview to the US newspaper, The International Herald Tribune. The financial crisis from 2007 to 2011 rendered Dunne insolvent, and he had to file for bankruptcy in the States.

However, he has since bounced back. He has been involved in many well-known developments, including many in Ballsbridge, hence his nickname. He is a well-known political donor to Fianna Fail, consistently donating amounts in the tens of thousands. He has been donating to Fianna Fail since the 1990s.

The Heffernan Family

The Heffernan family resides primarily in Bath. Margaret Heffernan, one of the family’s most prominent businesspeople, resides there as well. She attended Cambridge for school, but she was born in the States in Texas. She is also an author.

The Heffernan family is involved in many different businesses, with Margaret as the CEO of five companies. In the UK, she ran Marlin Gas Trading and IPPA. She also worked as a producer for the BBC, producing television shows and radio programs.

Her books’ subjects are generally about business, particularly the struggles involved with being a woman who is in charge of so many businesses in a male-dominated industry. She also has written about mergers and acquisitions, giving advice to young business owners on how to handle them.

The Magnier Family

John Magnier and his family are perhaps the most famous stud owners in the world, and their names are widely-known throughout the racing world. Magnier was born in County Cork, and his father was a landowner. Magnier attended Glenstal Abbey, but when his father died, he left to take care of his family’s estate.

He was first a partner with Coolmore, a stud-breeding firm, but he worked his way up. Coolmore is known for having the best, fastest racehorses in Ireland. While some horses have been less successful, the vast majority have been winners.

Magnier is one of the most influential horse breeding and racing entrepreneurs in the world. He is also into politics, becoming a Senator in Tipperary. Coolmore, his company, has a value of more than four billion euro.

The Lyons Family

Deirdre Lyons and the Lyons family own the business Alltech. Deirdre is one of the members of the senior leadership team for the company. Lyons was born in Ireland and attended college at St. Mary’s College in Dublin, where she studied business management. She and her husband have a daughter, Aoife, and a son, Mark.

Tragically, Aoife recently passed away. Deirdre and her husband, Pearse, have had to continue on despite the tragedy. Alltech is a major agribusiness. It sells feed to farmers and employs more than five thousand people.

It currently operates in more than 120 countries. Alltech is focused on environmental preservation and finding eco-friendly solutions to many different problems that farmers face. Mark Lyons, Deirdre’s husband, has a degree in solid soil fermentation.

The Mistry Family

Pallonji Mistry was born in India, but he currently resides in Ireland and holds Irish citizenship. He is the richest person in Ireland (non-native born). He has had his Irish citizenship since the year 2003. He was born in 1929, and he is a Parsi.

His family migrated from Persia to Gujarat. He received his education from Cathedral & John Connon School as well as Imperial College in London. Pallonji’s father purchased Tata Sons when Pallonji was just a child. He owned an eighteen per cent stake in the company.

Pallonji inherited that stake. He is the largest shareholder (individual) in the company. The company is a financier business. Pallonji also owns Shapoorji Pallonji Group. This company invests in construction and textiles and holds many subsidiaries.

The Weston Family

The Weston family is among the richest in the UK thanks to its ownership of the company Holt Renfrew. Hilary Weston is the wife of Galen Weston, the CEO of Holt Renfrew. The couple has two children. Hilary is an author and a businesswoman in her own right. She and her family are also Canadian citizens, and she herself possesses dual citizenship.

Weston was born in Dublin. She is the second-richest Irish person. She also was the governor of Ontario, Canada for five years in the 1990s. Hilary’s major gift is philanthropy, and she is regarded as one of the world’s most successful philanthropists.

She has raised more than 250 million USD for charities all across the world (though most are in Canada and Ireland). Her spouse, Galen, is a Canadian citizen.

The McColl Family

Jim McColl is a recently-retired Scottish billionaire who has UK nationality but resides in Monaco. He was the owner of Clyde Bowers, and his net worth has reached almost one billion GBP. He attended Rutherglen Academy and Strathclyde University. He is the richest man in Scotland, overtaking Tom Hunter.

McColl’s father was a butcher, and he was raised outside of East Kilbride in a tiny town. His first business venture was Diamond Power, which he joined in 1981. He was a consultant, and he helped specialise in turning around companies that were having financial issues.

He founded Clyde Bowers, a holding company that purchased many subsidiaries in the gas and power industry. It recently bought up the Fluid & Power Division of Textron. The company’s subsidiaries operate in 27 countries.

The Al Fayed Family

Mohamed Al Fayed is a businessman residing in Scotland. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt in Roshdy. His father was a primary school teacher, and he was one of six children. His two brothers, Salah and Ali, are his business partners.

His first business venture was a shipping company. It was through this company that he become close with Haitian leader Papa Doc (AKA Francois Duvalier). He opened a disastrous oil plant in Haiti, leaving after he found out he was being scammed and that the crude oil was just molasses.

Al Fayed terminated his friendship with Papa Doc, and he bounced back, founding more businesses. He purchased Harrods and sold it for more than a billion euro. He is a chairman of Harrods. He resides in northern Scotland.

The Al-Tajir Family

Mahdi Al Tajir was born in Bahrain. In fact, he was the UAE’s ambassador to the UK for sixteen years, working in his position from 1971 to 1987. He was also the UAE ambassador to France from 1971 to 1980. He resides in London, though he has kept his Emirati nationality. He has five children.

Al Tajir’s first mega-successful business venture was when he was appointed director of Petroleum Affairs for Sheikh Rashad. He was considered to be the second-most powerful man in Dubai. He resigned from that position when Sheikh Rashad died.

Currently, Al Tajir is the owner of a glass-bottling business in Dubai. He resides both in the UK and in the Cayman Islands after he ran into trouble in his home country with Sheikh Rashad’s sons.

The Gordon Family

William Grant & Sons is among one of the oldest businesses in Scotland, and, by many metrics, it is also the most successful. This massive whiskey business was started by William Grant in 1887. Its headquarters was located in North Lanarkshire. Its products received high acclaim, winning Distiller of the Year several times.

Whisky Magazine named its Glenfiddich brand the “Best of the Best.” Seventy-five experts spanning three continents nominated it for this label. William Grant and Sons also has owned several distilleries, including Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Girvan, Kininvie, Alisa Bay and Tullamore.

William Grant & Sons trail-blazed the single malt whiskey in Scotland. In Scotland, brands were always blended, but WGS changed that. It was the first to also take this single malt and market it internationally.

The Clark Family

Arnold Clark Auto, owned by Arnold Clark Group, is one of Scotland’s largest privately-held companies. Its founder, Arnold Clark, started the business in the 1950s. He opened his first automobile showroom in Glasgow. The company branched out after that, opening Arnold Clark Finance.

Arnold Clark started a rental business and bought Grant, Melrose, & Tennant. It took that business and made it into an accident repair company. The company continued to expand, and it had twenty-two branches in both England and Scotland.

The company bought up other dealerships, and fleet sales were just a tiny amount of what the company had in store, business-wise. It has a turnover of nearly three billion euro, and it celebrated its sixtieth anniversary in 2014. It recently bought out Phoenix Car Company.

The Wood Family

Sir Ian Wood is not just a world-class entrepreneur, he is also an insanely wealthy businessman. He was born in Aberdeen, and he attended Robert Gordon’s College and the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a degree in psychology in 1964. Wood Group was his father’s business, and he joined it after he left school.

Wood Group has been influential, but it has had most of its traction in the North Sea oil market. The firm, led by Sir Ian Wood, turned the company’s ventures there into a successful corporation.

Wood is also the chancellor of Robert Gordon, after receiving an honorary doctorate from there. He retired from The Wood Group in 2012, but he remains as a consultant. He is also the chairman of the charity The Wood Foundation.

The Short Family

Ellis Short is one of Ireland’s most prominent businessmen. He was born in the States in Missouri, but he holds dual citizenship—Irish and American. He resides in London, and his net worth is around one billion euro. He attended Missouri University, achieving a degree in mechanical engineering. He graduated in 1983.

He worked for General Electric. He was employed there from 1983 to 1995 before he decided to turn his career in a different direction. He joined a private equity company, Lone Star Funds. He was the president of the company and headed its operations in the Asian continent.

He purchased Skibo Castle in Scotland. The cost was twenty-three million euro. The famous country club once hosted Madonna’s wedding. Short also owns the finance company Kildare.

The O’Leary Family

Irish businessman Michael O’Leary is worth nearly one billion pounds. He was born in Katurk, and he is the CEO of Ryanair. He was one of six children, and he attended Trinity College, where he got his Bachelor’s in economics and social studies. He graduated in 1983.

His first business venture was Stokes Kennedy Crowley, and he studied the Irish taxation system before leaving two years later to start a news business in Dublin. He founded Ryanair after he met Tony Ryan, who was the head of Guinness Aviation.

Guinness leased him several plans. He founded Ryanair, studying the way Southwest Airlines worked. He copied the low-cost model, eliminating fares and making a profit through the increase in customers his low-cost airline received. He negotiates with airports for discounted landing fees as well.

The Ryan Family

Declan Ryan is the managing partner of Ryanair. He is considered part of their aviation team. He is also the cofounder of the company, and he founded it with his family. He is the chairman of Viva LatinAmerica and Viva Colombia. He was once the CEO of Ryanair, but he stepped down from that position.

He founded the charitable organisation One Foundation, which is one of the richest charities in Ireland. One foundation is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) that focuses on healthcare. His organisation, in addition to Atlantic, funds 86% of charitable ventures by other private companies.

Recently, One and Atlantic have had funding issues, but Ryan has asked the government to step in and give the companies grants. Whether that will work remains to be seen.

The McMurtry Family

David McMurtry and his family founded Renishaw, PLC. Renishaw is the largest metrology equipment supplier in the UK. McMurtry was born in Clontarf in Ireland, though he currently resides in England in Wotton-Under-Edge. He received his education from Mountjoy School. His first machinery experience came from an apprenticeship.

He was an apprentice with Bristol Aero Engines. Rolls Royce, a luxury car company, purchased British Aero Engines in 1966. It was then that he was promoted to Head of Engine Design. He made his first trigger probe while working at the company.

He and his coworker John Deer set up the Renishaw PLC. He patented his trigger probes that he developed at Rolls Royce. He was a Royal Designer for Industry in 1989, and he was Knighted in 2001.

The Comer Family

Luke and Brian Comer are two Irish businessmen who are well-known for their achievements in real estate and property development. The two own Comer Group, which they also founded. The are worth more than seven-hundred million pounds. Comer Group is privately-owned, and it focuses on real estate development.

The two were born in Glenamaddy. They worked first as plasterers and left school while still in their teens to get jobs there. The two then moved into property development after they relocated to London. The two have headed several major projects, such as Friern Hospital and Princess Park Manor.

They have more than seventy-five million euro invested through the UK, Ireland, and Germany. They made these investments in spans of six months, and they recently announced more investment plans to come.

The Naughton Family

Martin Naughton is an engineer who was born in Dundalk and currently resides in County Meath. He received his education from De La Salle College Dundalk. He founded GlenDimplex, and that company helped him achieve a multi-million-pound net worth. He is married to Carmel Naughton, and the two have three children.

GlenDimplex provides electric equipment throughout Ireland. It started small, named Glen Electric. At the time of its founding in 1973, it had only ten people. Glen Electric purchased Dimplex and merged with the company four years later. Dimplex was the leading electrical equipment brand.

With the merger, Glen Electrics (now GlenDimplex), took off. It specialises in heating, electric, and similar products. Martin and his wife are also philanthropists for their donations to environmental charitable causes.

The McManus Family

J.P. McManus is an Irish entrepreneur who has residences in Ireland, Barbados, and Switzerland. He was born in Limerick, and his first job was working for his family’s firm, which operated in the construction industry. He then switched courses, becoming a bookie at the Markets Field greyhound track in Limerick.

He decided he wanted to go into horse ownership. He and his business partner, Jimmy Hayes, decided to become punters and owners of horses. He become a stakeholder in National Racing. He has more than 550 horses currently training to race.

His horses have one countless races for decades. He has won the Cheltenham festival fifty times, with his most recent victory coming in 2017 with a horse named Buveur d’Air. Buveur d’Air was victorious in the Champion Hurdle.

The Grayken Family

John Grayken was born in America, but he exchanged his American citizenship for Irish citizenship. He was born in Massachusetts, and he currently resides in Surrey. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. He founded Lone Star Funds, a private equity firm. He is the CEO of the firm a well.

Prior to founding Lone Star Funds, he worked at Morgan Stanley, a major bank. He then partnered with Robert Bass, a famous billionaire in Texas, to found Lone Star. The business has been around since 1995.

Four years after founding Lone Star, Grayken switched his citizenship to Ireland. He claimed it was for tax reasons. He and his wife, with whom he has four children, are also philanthropists who donate to anti-drug causes.

The Kelly Family

Brian Kelly founded Brian Kelly Solicitors, which is located in Belfast and gives people legal advice. Not only does it provide advice, it also provides legal services like litigation, criminal law, conveyances, family law, and wills and probate.

His firm is among the largest and most profitable in Ireland. It is unique because of its jack-of-all-trades nature, providing legal advice in a wide range of different types of law. The legal team is professional and experienced, and they also help with real estate matters.

Brian Kelly belongs to the Law Society of Northern Ireland. He is experienced in family law, education, insurance, and more. He is a highly-rated attorney, and his firm is very experienced and dedicated to its clients. There are few clients with anything negative to say about the firm.